Mexico Paper Stops Drug War Coverage After Grenade Attacks

A newspaper in Mexico’s violent city of Nuevo Laredo announced on Wednesday it will end coverage of drug-related bloodshed, one day after grenades damaged its offices for the second time this year.

Many Mexican news organizations have decided to report only basic facts about murders and massacres in recent years. But it is rare for a newspaper to drop coverage altogether.

Tuesday’s attack on the daily El Manana was among the latest incidents that have made Mexico one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists.

El Manana said in an editorial that it was too dangerous to report on the execution-style murders, car bombs and decapitations that have terrorized residents in the city across the border from Laredo, Texas.

“The editorial board of the company has come to this regrettable decision because of the circumstances that we all know about and the lack of conditions to freely carry out journalism,” it said.

“El Manana … does not want to serve the petty interests of any de-facto power or criminal group,” the newspaper said.

On Tuesday assailants fired at the newspaper’s main offices with a grenade launcher, damaging the building but causing no injuries. A similar attack occurred on May 11.

The city south of the Rio Grande has seen a surge in violence in recent months as the brutal Zetas cartel battle rivals for control of lucrative drug smuggling routes.

In one recent incident, 14 severed heads were dumped on the street close to Nuevo Laredo’s town hall in ice boxes.

Cartel gunmen across Mexico have been known to attack journalists over unfavorable coverage, as well as pressure reporters to cover mass murders they carry out.